Sunday, September 4, 2016
Read the statement below...
Deeply worried by the poor state of the economy which has brought unprecedented hardship and hunger on the masses of the Nigerian people, a federal lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye (APC Kogi West) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take urgent and drastic measures, including the immediate sack of three prominent members of his Economic Team as the solution-precedent to reboot the ailing economy.
In a Statement in Abuja Sunday, Melaye said the President
must shake up his Cabinet, and accused most of the members of gross
incompetence, inexcusable ineptitude and a distressing lack of capacity
to deliver on the mandate of their ministries/Agencies.
Those to face the axe immediately if the economy must be
effectively rebooted to deliver on the Change Agenda of the present
administration, in the estimation of Melaye include the Minister of
Finance, Kemi Adeosun, Budget and National Planning Minister, Senator
Udoma Udo Udoma and the governor of the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN),
Mr Godwin Emefiele.
" At the moment, it must be crystal clear to all discerning
minds that the President's widely-acclaimed magical body language has
lost its presumed aura and efficacy. His no-nonsense demeanor is
equally neither instilling fear nor commanding respect and loyalty from
amongst his cabinet members. It is therefore obvious that the time for
barking is over, now is the time to bite and boot out all those who have
demonstrated, in the past several months, a crass lack of capacity to
effectively carry out the functions of their office", Melaye declared,
stressing:
" The Finance Minister has not only displayed gross
incompetence on the Job, she also lacks the basic and rudimentary grasp
of economic fundamentals necessary to run a critical sector of the
Nigerian economy like the Finance Ministry. It is time for her to go now
and pave way for a qualified and experienced person to steer the
Nigerian economy away from the dark woods it has sunk presently under
her stewardship".
On Udoma Udo Udoma, he stated : "To be sure, Senator Udoma
Udo Udoma is a very charismatic man, an accomplished lawyer, and a
quintessential gentleman with a fairly untainted reputation. In everyday
parlance, he is a good man. But the critical job of Budget and National
Planning Minister for a huge country like Nigeria, with her prevailing
economic challenges requires much more than being a good man with a
great personality.
"It is for someone with the relevant qualification,
professional knowledge and experience in public sector finance,
development economics, strategic thinking, budgetary planning and
management. As a lawyer, accomplished in this field as he is, Udoma's
appointment to that position is nepotism taken to very ridiculous
heights; and a classic case of putting round pegs in square holes-it
will, and can never fit. It is akin to saddling a carpenter with a
tailor's responsibility. The outcome under the circumstances, as has
become evidently clear, is bound to be catastrophic for the economy.
President Buhari must therefore do the needful now by relieving Udoma of
this huge burden that is constituting a clog to the revival of the
Nigerian economy", the lawmaker declared.
On the CBN governor, Senator Melaye pointed to his
disastrous handling and release of the so-called Dasuki-gate funds which
amounts to about 15 per cent of the nation's foreign reserves, policy
flip-flops, summersaults and inconsistencies as clear evidence of gross
incompetence in the management of the nation's fiscal and monetary
policies. The net effect of this inconceivable ineptitude on the part of
Emefiele, according to Melaye is the free fall in the value of the
naira and the total loss of faith and confidence by the international
community on the Nigerian economy.
To reverse this trend, Melaye says President Buhari must
muster the courage to wield the big stick and give Emefiele the boot, to
be replaced by a fiscal and monetary policy guru. "We have these
qualified Nigerians in abundance, and the President must beam his
searchlight to find them to help him, the Nigerian economy as well as
the suffering Nigerian masses".
He further called on the President to immediately
discountenance the Economic Team currently under the supervision of the
Vice President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo "as their decisions will not be;
and has never been respected by the economic managers and the
bureaucracy in Nigeria". In its stead, Melaye urged the President to
constitute an "Emergency Ad hoc Economic Team" made up of all former
Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning, CBN Governors as
well as members drawn from the academia with "deep knowledge of
developmental economics to drive the economic revival programme"!
"The President must immediately transit from mere rhetoric
to drastic but positive action to save the economy and Nigeria from
total collapse. The hunger in the land is real, pervasive, widespread
and debilitating for the poor masses. As I walk the streets of my
constituency these days, I constantly harbor a foreboding that I could
be stoned by my angry constituents for the failure of Mr President to
fulfill his campaign promises and expectations to Nigerians", Melaye
said, warning:
"Nigeria is tottering on a dangerous precipice, sliding
perilously to a certain catastrophe if the current economic malaise is
not halted immediately", he declared, even as he said his criticism is
borne out of an altruistic fervour, and not a product of sour grapes
akin to some traditional critics of "Every Government in Power (EGIP)".
Nigerians and Mr President, he said should be able to
recall with little difficulty that "I was a permanent fixture at the All
Progressive Congress (APC's) Presidential campaign rallies and events,
functioning mostly as the Master of Ceremonies (MC). I am a proud APC
Member, a party bonafide with a great stake in the success or failure of
this administration, so no one can accuse me of sour grapes or
meddlesomeness.
"I am a truly concerned stakeholder presently bothered by
the imminent, clear and present danger of a still-birth of a Change
Agenda that held so much hope and promise for Nigerians a little over a
year ago. While there is a lot of hunger, anger, anguish and despair
currently in the land, I have a firm belief that the situation is not
beyond redemption for Mr President, hence my call for urgent and drastic
remedial action now", Melaye concluded.
Dist. Senator Dino Melaye
Kogi West.
Kogi West.
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